About ACORN

“Damp, rats, no hot water, a landlord walking in at any time without warning…. The never ending problems would never be resolved if ACORN did not appear in my life.” – Ms. Murgova, ACORN member

“In less than two years… ACORN, have not only helped gain a better deal for the city’s private tenants, but also shown how community politics in the UK might be conducted in the future.” – B24/7

Welcome to ACORN. We are a community-based union tackling injustice across the country, bringing people together to support each other to improve their lives and their communities. We have branches in Bristol, Brighton, Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle, and other groups getting set up all over England and Wales.

“After four years of successful campaigning, ACORN is now recognised… as a voice for private renters.“ – The Guardian

“There didn’t seem to be anything similar in the community. The way to ensure you have your right to a proper, decent and dignified way of living is for ordinary people to band together.” – Anny Cullum, ACORN member

What we do

We bring people together into powerful local groups to take action on whatever they think is important.

A lot of our success has been in housing – preventing evictions, winning repairs in dangerous properties, stopping banks from discriminating against tenants on housing benefit – but we’re a democratic organisation so our members decide what we focus on.

Those members own and run the organisation. They set our strategy, decide on our tactics, and take the action to make it happen. As an ACORN member, you’ll receive all the training and support you need to do that in your community too.

Measurable impact

Our groups mainly do two things:

1) Member defence, where we support people who are facing eviction, dangerous disrepair or unfair treatment.

2) Wider campaigning, like our campaigns to ban tenancy fees, improve safety, stop discrimination against tenants on housing benefit, and end “no-fault” evictions. With our RentersVote campaign last year we registered c. 4,000 people to vote including many homeless people.